Supervising Faculty: Daniel Shaw, Ph.D.
Contact: Daniel Shaw, Ph.D., 412-624-1836, casey@pitt.edu
Area of Research: Studying the effectiveness and community dissemination of early childhood parenting interventions for families from low-income backgrounds beginning in the prenatal period.
Description of Research: These are two longitudinal clinical trials designed to assess the effectiveness of the Family Check-Up Prenatal program for expectant parents from low-income backgrounds and randomly assigned to the universal Family Check-Up Prenatal home visiting program or the ENRICHed version of the Family Check-Up Prenatal program, the latter of which also incorporates content to promote parent and child cardiovascular health. Follow-up assessments are conducted through the child’s 2nd birthday.
Duties of Students: Responsibilities will include recruitment of families obtaining prenatal visits at Magee Womens Hospital, following up families to schedule telehealth assessments, and attending home visits to parents and infants with Family Check-Up coaches. In addition, students will learn about the theoretical bases of the lab’s three decades of projects, including ongoing studies in the lab through an ongoing lecture series. For the coming year, we are looking for students who could begin their work in the lab this summer and continue through the Fall semester of 2026. Students who work in the lab as directed research students are eligible to be considered for employment in the lab thereafter.
Requirements:
- Overall GPA of 3.5 or higher
- 12 credits of Psychology (including current term)
- STAT 0200/1000/1100 Statistics
- PSY 0036 Research Methods Lecture
- PSY 0037 Research Methods Lab
Terms offered: fall, spring and summer
Number of Students: Up to 6-7 students can be accepted into the program.